Tag Archives | Rain

A husband and wife have been left puzzled after hundreds of tiny yellow plastic balls rained in their garden.

Dylis Scott and her husband Tony were in their garage on Monica Road, Leicester, on Sunday when the balls fell from the sky during a storm. Mrs Scott said they started hitting the car and garage door and “shooting at me. I looked outside and all over the lawn were all these yellow balls. And it was absolutely pelting down”.

The Met Office said it was possible for weather systems to lift things such as dust and deposit them many miles away. In January it was reported that 3cm diameter blue balls came raining down during a hailstorm in Bournemouth, Dorset. Theories on what the balls could have been included crystals used in floral displays or ammunition for a toy gun.

With any luck, alien-tinted rainfall will be a growing meteorological trend. Via the Epoch Times:

A rare shower of red rain fell for about 15 minutes in the city of Kannur, Kerala, India, early on June 28. Local residents were perturbed, but this is not the first time the state has experienced colored rain.

This strange phenomenon was first recorded in Kerala a few hours after a meteor airburst in July 2001, when a space rock exploded in the atmosphere. More than 120 such rain showers were reported that year, including yellow, green, and black ones.

Astrobiologist Godfrey Louis, pro vice-chancellor at nearby Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), has studied samples of red rainwater in 2001 and discovered strange properties, including autofluorescence—light that is naturally emitted by cell structures like mitochondria. Scientific analysis showed the striking red coloration is due to microscopic particles resembling biological cells, possibly originating from comet fragments.

People in drought-stricken countries could one day create rain clouds on demand thanks to laser technology. Physicists have discovered that firing short laser bursts into the air can trigger the formation of water droplets. The breakthrough technique could help stimulate rainfall in the future.

Scientist Jerome Kasparian and his team from the University of Geneva wanted to find a more environmentally friendly alternative to cloud seeding. This 50-year-old process attempts to artificially induce showers. A red laser pulse ionises the air and triggers the condensation of water droplets to create a cloud, which is illuminated by a green laser

Rockets carrying silver iodide particles are scattered in the sky. The particles act as ‘condensation nuclei’ around which water drops can form. Dr Kasparian said cloud seeding is not an efficient method despite decades of development. He added: ‘There are also worries about how safe adding silver iodide particles into the air is for the environment.’

The researchers realised laser technology could be used to create an alternative technique.